| Recommendations on
Human Resource Development
The Expert Group recommended
that the secretariat
- increase the awareness
of the role of information technology (IT)
in national development among high-level decision
makers and key executives through training
and information dissemination;
- organize group training
activities to train the trainers in the practical
use of IT, grouping the countries at the same
stage of IT development in the public sector
where appropriate; experts mentioned several
institutions as possible locations for the
courses;
- study possibilities to
train civil servants by placing them in technologically
advanced organizations.
Recommendations on Information
Sharing
The Expert Group recommended
that the secretariat
- establish an ESCAP World
Wide Web Server in the Internet as soon as
possible as a means of information dissemination;
- identify national repositories
of IT information in member countries and
initiate a network between them in order to
share the knowledge and experience gained
in the region in developing computerized applications;
- act in that network as
a switching hub, facilitating contacts between
experts and assisting countries to exchange
information and experiences on the use of
modern technologies and IT policies;
- use all appropriate modern
and conventional technologies to disseminate
information about regional computerization
activities to all member and associate member
countries;
- organize study tours
and exchanges of experts on computerization
programmes;
- exchange information
on common applications in various countries,
including sample documents;
- improve the substantive
content of the Government Computerization
Newsletter, introduce an electronic version,
and organize its subscription through an e-mail
server.
The Editor appreciates the feedback by the
Group and will attempt to follow their last
recommendation, including the introduction of
electronic distribution, which however will
be possible only after an upgrade in the secretariat's
Internet connection. We also hope to return
to issuing the Newsletter at more regular intervals,
which practice has been disturbed recently since
resources were diverted to other, more urgent
uses.
Recommendations on Institutional
Arrangements
The Expert Group recommended
that the secretariat
- institutionalize an intergovernmental
discussion forum for computerization experts
in the public sector, emphasizing the need
for continuity of membership;
- identify focal points
(organizations) in all member countries for
ESCAP's government computerization activities;
- establish an informal
network of public-sector computerization experts.
Other Recommendations
The Expert Group felt that member countries
would greatly benefit from access to the Internet
in information exchange and asked the secretariat
to investigate possibilities to assist those
countries not yet having a connection, for instance
by setting up an Internet demonstration in target
countries.
The Group further recommended
that the secretariat
- publish a statistical
handbook on computerization in countries of
the region, with statistics and indicators
covering various facets of the status and
level of computerization, and based on a secretariat
survey along with published international
statistics;
- explore the possibility
of compiling an index of computerization development
for the countries in the region;
- publish the Expert Group
Meeting's proceedings electronically to the
extent possible.
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